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Rus to Discuss Future of Robotics during White House Google+ Hangout

Wed, 08/07/2013

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Join CSAIL Director Daniela Rus this Friday, August 9 at 2:00 PM EDT as she talks about the future of robotics during a “We the Geeks” Google+ Hangout session hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Rus and other pioneering scientists – including Rodney Brooks, former CSAIL director and president of Rethink Robotics - will discuss how robots can help transform everything from school classrooms to the factory floor, and operating rooms to the way we explore the Solar System.

The Hangout will be moderated byVijay Kumar, assistant director for Robotics and Cyberphysical Systems, and Tom Kalil, deputy director for Technology and Innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “We the Geeks" is a new series of Google+ Hangouts designed to highlight the future of science, technology, and innovation in the United States.

Rus is the first female director of CSAIL. She leads the Distributed Robotics Lab at CSAIL and is a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Rus’ research interests include distributed robotics, mobile computing and programmable matter. At CSAIL she has led numerous groundbreaking research projects in the areas of transportation, security, environmental modeling and monitoring, underwater exploration, and agriculture.

The public is invited to tune into "We the Geeks: Robots" live on WhiteHouse.gov/WeTheGeeks and the White House Google+ page on Friday, August 9, at 2:00 PM EDT. Viewers are welcome to ask questions by using the hashtag #WeTheGeeks on Twitter and on Google+ and panelists will answer some of them during the live Hangout.